Mumbai's municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

THE SUPREME Court on Tuesday issued notice to BMC Commissioner Ashwini Bhide , asking her to show cause why it should not initiate contempt of court proceedings against her for failing to comply with its direction to clear encroachments from land intended for a bus station project in Borivalli, and ordered suspension of her salary for the month of November.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana turned down the BMC’s request for 30 more days to execute the direction of removing encroachments and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the municipal body.

The SC bench noted that its earlier directions were yet to be acted upon and wondered if there was any collusion between the officials and encroachers.

The CJI said, “This is an absolutely mischievous breach of the directions of the Supreme Court, with the direct connivance and support of the encroachers.” He warned that the court…